Incidence of Kawasaki disease among children in Chandigarh, India during 2015–2019: a trend analysis

Background

Only limited information exists regarding the epidemiology of Kawasaki disease (KD) in low-income and middle-income countries. The present study provides the incidence of KD during 2015–2019 in Chandigarh, north India. Our centre follows the largest KD cohort in India.

Methods

Children with KD at Chandigarh diagnosed during January 2015–December 2019 were enrolled in the study. Annual incidence rates were determined using decadal growth rates of the National Census 2011. We computed the incidence of KD in children aged <5, and <15 years. We also undertook linear trend analysis using our incidence data from 1994 to 2019.

Findings

During 2015–2019, 83 patients (66 males, 17 females) were diagnosed with KD in Chandigarh. Incidence rates during these 5 years were 5.64, 9.25, 9.11, 9.87, and 9.72/100,000 in children aged <5 years, and 2.65, 4.44, 3.86, 5.07, 4.74/100,000 in children aged <15 years. The median age at diagnosis was 48 months (range: 12 days to 15 years). Compared to previous data (2009–2014), there was a 53.1% increase in annual incidence of KD in children aged <5 years, and a 53.7% increase in children aged <15 years. Coronary artery abnormalities during acute phase were noted in 16.9%, and in 7.2% of patients at 6 weeks of follow-up. The trend analysis indicated a monthly rise of 0.002 cases per 100,000 children aged <5 years, and 0.0165 cases per 100,000 children aged <15 years.

Interpretation

The incidence of KD has continued to show an upward trend in Chandigarh over the period 2015–2019. This may indicate a true rise in the occurrence of KD or may reflect better disease ascertainment as a result of greater awareness about KD amongst healthcare professionals.

Funding

None.